Tools such as hammers are well known in the art. These hand-held tools often require vigorous, forceful motion on the part of the user of the tool in order to strike or otherwise impact the intended target with the tool. This forceful motion exposes the hand grasping the tool to injury. This is particularly true when the tool is being used to strike curved, slanted, or uneven surfaces. Using a hammer to strike a portion of pipe, for example, or to strike a nail on a slanted surface such as a roof, can result in forcefully impacting the pipe or the roof with the knuckles of the hand. This is due to the angle of the hammer or other tool as it is being used, and to the relative angle of the surface being struck to the motion of the tool. In industries where use of tools in the above manner is common, injuries to the hands of the users may result from striking the hand against hard surfaces while holding a tool.
What is needed, therefore, is an efficient device for protecting a user's hand from injury while using such tools, while at the same time allowing the worker to continue working in the same manner, and at the same speed, as when using a tool without such a protective device.